Female US prison guards to quit after order to not escort '9/11 Five'

According to an official, US military judge's order was so offensive that the women will quit the Army

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, CUBA: A United States military judge's order barring female guards at Guantanamo Bay from escorting the alleged plotters of the September 11, 2001 attacks was so offensive that the women will quit the Army, an official testified Wednesday.

The issue dominated a pre-trial hearing at a military court on the US naval base in Cuba, where the same witness said security at Guantanamo's secretive Camp Seven prison that houses the five defendants had previously been "compromised." But he gave no additional details.



The case against the "9/11 Five" -- already one of the longest prosecutions in American history -- is moving glacially slowly thanks to numerous defense motions and allegations of government misconduct, coupled with the logistical hurdles of running a court on the remote US base in southeastern Cuba.

Speaking via video link, the former commander of Camp Seven -- who ran the facility from December 2014 to August 2015 -- condemned the January order from military judge Colonel James Pohl barring women from escorting the detainees to and from the courthouse.

"It really destroyed the morale for a long time," the unidentified Colorado National Guard major said.

"I have soldiers ... that will be getting out the military because of this, and that's an embarrassment to our armed forces."

The defendants last year complained that, as strict Muslims, it was inappropriate for women to handle them.

Pakistan-born Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- who has publicly admitted to being the principal planner of 9/11 -- has said it makes him flash back to the torture and sexual humiliation meted out by the Cental Intelligence Agency after he was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and sent to secret prisons.

The major said there had been no security issues attributable to the female-guard issue, but he made a fleeting -- and intriguing -- reference to a lapse.



"Were there any instances where the security of the facility was compromised?" defense lawyer Walter Ruiz asked.

"There was," the major replied -- though no one immediately followed up on the response, and the soldier provided no further information.

Captain Christopher Scholl, the spokesman for the detention center, declined to discuss the matter.

"We don't comment on operations in Camp Seven," he said.

Wednesday morning's session in the so-called "military commission" was halted prematurely after two defendants declined to come to the courtroom because they also had meetings scheduled with representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Pohl was exasperated at the scheduling snafu, which caused yet another delay in the case dating back 14 years.

"I put out commission schedules a year in advance," he said. "It doesn't strike me as difficult to deconflict."

Wednesday also marked the one-year anniversary of the US government's release of a summary of a lengthy report detailing torture carried out at Guantanamo and several secret CIA prisons.

Terror suspects -- including Mohammed -- were subjected to waterboarding, which is a form of simulated drowning, "rectal rehydration" and beatings.

Though the US government has barred information obtained under duress from being used in the commissions, questions remain about whether evidence gathered in subsequent interrogations should be admissible.

Attorneys in the case refer to such evidence as "fruit of the poisoned tree."

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The other four accused are: Walid bin Attash and Ramzi Binalshibh of Yemen, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali -- Mohammed's nephew -- and Mustapha al-Hawsawi of Saudi Arabia.

They face the death penalty if eventually convicted. The hearing resumes Thursday.